# Paysafecard via Skrill: Customer Journey

This page follows a Paysafecard deposit from the customer's first click to the money being confirmed and names who does what at each step. It is the companion to [Accept an Alternative Payment](/guides/accept-an-alternative-payment), which has the request and response details for every call mentioned here.

Paysafecard (`psc`) is reached through a hosted checkout run by Skrill. Your integration never sees the voucher. You open a payment session, send the customer to `checkout_url` and wait for the gateway to tell you the outcome.

## Who is involved

| Party | Role in the flow |
|---|---|
| Customer | Picks Paysafecard on your site and pays on paysafecard's page with their voucher PIN. |
| You (the merchant) | Create the payment session, redirect the customer to `checkout_url` and act on the outcome the gateway reports. |
| Softlemon gateway | Opens the session with Skrill, receives Skrill's server-to-server notification, verifies it and updates the transaction. Delivers your webhooks and answers status calls. |
| Skrill Quick Checkout | The hosted checkout behind `checkout_url`. Sends the customer on to paysafecard, receives the outcome and notifies the gateway. |
| Paysafecard | The voucher scheme. Takes the voucher PIN on its own page and approves or declines the payment. |

## The journey at a glance

<Mermaid chart={`sequenceDiagram
    autonumber
    participant C as Customer
    participant M as Your site
    participant G as Softlemon gateway
    participant S as Skrill hosted checkout
    participant P as Paysafecard

    C->>M: Chooses Paysafecard and enters the amount
    M->>G: POST /api/v1/payment-sessions (payment_method psc)
    G->>S: Opens the checkout session
    S-->>G: Session id
    G-->>M: 200 pending_redirect with checkout_url
    M->>C: Redirects the browser to checkout_url
    S->>C: Sends the browser on to paysafecard's page
    C->>P: Enters the voucher PIN and confirms
    alt Approved
        P-->>S: Approved
        S-->>C: Shows confirmation, browser lands on your success_url
        S->>G: Server-to-server notification (paid)
        G->>G: Verifies signature, amount and currency
        G-->>M: transaction.captured webhook
        M->>C: Credits the customer
    else Declined or abandoned
        P-->>S: Declined
        S-->>C: Shows the decline, browser lands on your cancel_url
        S->>G: Server-to-server notification (failed or cancelled)
        G-->>M: transaction.failed or transaction.cancelled webhook
        M->>C: Does not credit the customer
    end
`} />

The browser return and the webhook can arrive in either order. The browser landing on your site is never the signal to credit the customer. The webhook, or a status call, is.

## Step by step

1. **The customer chooses Paysafecard.** On your deposit page the customer picks Paysafecard and enters the amount. Nothing is collected from them on your site.
2. **You create a payment session.** Call `POST /api/v1/payment-sessions` with the amount, currency, your `reference`, `payment_method: "psc"`, your `success_url` and `cancel_url` and the customer's `email`, `country_code` and `ip_address`. Send `customer.email` on every Paysafecard session. Skrill uses it to take the customer straight to paysafecard's page. Without it the customer first sees Skrill's own checkout form, enters their email there and clicks through to paysafecard. The response is `pending_redirect` with a `checkout_url`. Details are in [Step 1 of the alternative payment guide](/guides/accept-an-alternative-payment#step-1-create-a-payment-session).
3. **You redirect the customer.** Send the browser to `checkout_url`. This is a full page redirect to Skrill's hosted checkout, not an iframe. The session is valid for 15 minutes.
4. **The customer pays on paysafecard's page.** Skrill sends the browser straight on to paysafecard, where the customer enters their voucher PIN and confirms. Paysafecard authorises or declines the payment and the customer is shown the result. If the session had no `customer.email`, Skrill shows its checkout form first and the customer reaches paysafecard from there.
5. **The customer comes back to your site.** After the hosted page the browser lands on your `success_url` or `cancel_url`. Treat this as navigation only and show a waiting state until the outcome is confirmed. See [Step 3](/guides/accept-an-alternative-payment#step-3-handle-the-browser-return).
6. **Skrill notifies the gateway.** Skrill sends the outcome to Softlemon server-to-server. The gateway checks the notification's signature and compares the paid amount and currency with the session before it changes anything. A notification that does not verify is held for review and the transaction is left as it was.
7. **You learn the outcome.** The transaction moves to `captured`, `failed` or `cancelled` and the matching webhook is delivered to your endpoint. You can also poll `GET /api/v1/payment-sessions/{id}` or the transaction. Credit the customer only on `transaction.captured` or a status read that shows `captured`. See [Step 4](/guides/accept-an-alternative-payment#step-4-confirm-the-outcome).

## What each outcome looks like

| What happened | Session status | Transaction status | Webhook |
|---|---|---|---|
| Paysafecard approved the payment. | `paid` | `captured` | `transaction.captured` |
| Skrill reported the payment as still in progress. | `pending_provider` | `pending` | `transaction.pending` (only if your endpoint subscribes to it) |
| Paysafecard declined the payment. | `failed` | `failed` | `transaction.failed` |
| The customer cancelled on the hosted page. | `cancelled` | `cancelled` | `transaction.cancelled` |
| The customer did not finish within 15 minutes. | `expired` | `cancelled` | `transaction.cancelled` |
| Skrill reported a chargeback on a paid deposit. | `chargeback` | `chargeback` | `transaction.chargeback` |

The full session lifecycle is in [transaction statuses](/guides/transaction-statuses#payment-session-statuses). Webhook payloads, signatures and retries are in the [webhooks reference](/guides/webhooks).

## What to rely on

- **The webhook or a status read, never the browser.** The customer can close the tab, land on `success_url` before the gateway has heard from Skrill or land on `cancel_url` for a payment that later succeeds. Only `transaction.captured`, or a status call showing `captured`, means the money is confirmed.
- **A late payment can turn a cancelled transaction into a captured one.** If the customer finishes on Skrill's page after the session expired, you first receive `transaction.cancelled` for the expiry and then `transaction.captured` when Skrill's notification arrives. Treat `captured` after `cancelled` on the same transaction as a successful deposit.
- **Your `reference` is reserved while the session is live.** Sending the same `reference` again while a session is open returns the existing session instead of creating a second one. Once the session has finished or expired you can reuse it for a genuine retry. See [duplicate protection](/guides/duplicate-protection).
- **Sessions expire after 15 minutes.** If the customer wants to try again after that, create a new session.
- **Repeated notifications are safe.** If Skrill sends the same notification twice the gateway ignores the repeat, so you never see two `transaction.captured` events for one deposit.

## Refunds

A Paysafecard deposit taken through Skrill is refunded like any other transaction with `POST /api/v1/transactions/{id}/refund`, in full or in part. The transaction must be `captured` first, so a session that never reached `paid` cannot be refunded. The refund is recorded as a child transaction and delivers `transaction.refunded` when Skrill confirms it. See the [refunds guide](/guides/refunds).

## Related

- [Accept an Alternative Payment](/guides/accept-an-alternative-payment) for the request and response details of every call above.
- [Set up webhooks](/guides/set-up-webhooks) and the [webhooks reference](/guides/webhooks).
- [Transaction statuses](/guides/transaction-statuses).